Collected Sagebrush (Artemisia Tridentata)

I haven't luck collecting sagebrush in winter, but I had better luck collecting in mid March, don't collect anything after early May. Tap root travels deep like six to eight times the size of the plant, so dig deep as you can. If you cut the root it will send off extra fragile feeder root. Soil cactus and succulent soil does wonders.
 
I just graduated college, and I'm finally getting back into the art in full force. I went from about 50 plants (mostly tiny seedlings) to right now having only 10 trees.

I grew up in Louisiana and am currently in Virginia, so most of my species are southern natives (Bald Cypress, Swamp Maples, Elms, ETC) but I spent a lot of time wondering around in Wyoming for weeks and week on end out of high school. It was my first time really leaving the South, and I will never forget the smell of a storm rolling in and the smell of sage. I've been to every county in Wyoming, and MAN I've wanted to grow sage ever since my first trip.

On that, I've got a friend who's in WY for a job right now. I'm thinking about sending him on a mission to collect some small ones and deliver them to me, but know literally nothing about plants. I don't need anything spectacular, I'd be good with a seedling. Has anyone tried collecting in the dead of winter? My friend has been seeing nighttime temps in the -10s F. And has anyone had any experience with them in the humidity? I know Mirai has luck with theirs but their summers are a big more mild than VA.

I'm a plant biologist/ecologist, so just trying to grow them here for the challenge would be worth my time.

Thanks for any input!

-Collin
(My photos attached-Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada)
I have collected them at all times of the year with mixed results. Can’t say one season is necessarily better than another. I have also repotted them in many different times of year.

Ultimately what I’ve found is that it’s all about winter care if you dig or repot out of season. The tree at the top of this page was repotted in late fall. I’ve left it outside all winter mulched in. It is doing just fine and looks as healthy as ever. I’ve met it watered and continuously checked on it.

I’ve also dug 3 Sage over new years from Taos all of which have stayed outside. They are all
Looking just fine same care as the others.

Only way to know if it’ll work is to just go for it. Fortunately there are literally millions of Sage brush in this western landscape so not a great loss if it dies.
 
I just graduated college, and I'm finally getting back into the art in full force. I went from about 50 plants (mostly tiny seedlings) to right now having only 10 trees.

I grew up in Louisiana and am currently in Virginia, so most of my species are southern natives (Bald Cypress, Swamp Maples, Elms, ETC) but I spent a lot of time wondering around in Wyoming for weeks and week on end out of high school. It was my first time really leaving the South, and I will never forget the smell of a storm rolling in and the smell of sage. I've been to every county in Wyoming, and MAN I've wanted to grow sage ever since my first trip.

On that, I've got a friend who's in WY for a job right now. I'm thinking about sending him on a mission to collect some small ones and deliver them to me, but know literally nothing about plants. I don't need anything spectacular, I'd be good with a seedling. Has anyone tried collecting in the dead of winter? My friend has been seeing nighttime temps in the -10s F. And has anyone had any experience with them in the humidity? I know Mirai has luck with theirs but their summers are a big more mild than VA.

I'm a plant biologist/ecologist, so just trying to grow them here for the challenge would be worth my time.

Thanks for any input!

-Collin
(My photos attached-Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada)
You'll definitely want (need) to collect them younger, they have extensive taproots... As for winter collection I'm torn, the soils they like growing in will already make it difficult to dig If the ground is frozen I couldn't imagine (at least in my area) but you definitely don't want to collect in the summer for my area so I think fall or early spring would be preferable...
 
This its second push of growth this spring. It grow excellent foliage over winter after an early winter repot!

This current growth appears to be its “flowering” or seed producing cycle. I had cut it off sooner in years past but am letting it run a bit more this year.
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Yep those are flowering stocks, but if you remove them you get more bud back. Next years foliage growth will be reduced in size and more compacted.
Please message me on Facebook under iolkie baron, or YouTube under sagebonsai on care of your sagebrush.
 
Yep those are flowering stocks, but if you remove them you get more bud back. Next years foliage growth will be reduced in size and more compacted.
Please message me on Facebook under iolkie baron, or YouTube under sagebonsai on care of your sagebrush.
My foliage growth is always compact with this variety, seed removal or not. I’ve collected all year. Winter, spring, summer and fall. The tap root while can be a problem, not the issue it has been stated to be from a few people on this thread. 9 pages and dozen plus sage in, I think I’m doing ok. Maybe we collect different varieties. Thanks for your thoughts though!
 
@Hartinez i really appreciate your updates over the past few years in this thread, your efforts have been very helpful in developing the health of my collected artemisia tridentata. I dug it up it on my parent’s property in Colorado last spring, and just repotted it in a box at a better planting angle this morning (hence the “droopy” looking elongated shoots from this spring - new direction of gravity!) I have plans to jin the whole right side / upright branch next year, but I’m really happy with its progress.

They are really awesome trees, and like I said, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to share so much information. I agree with all of your observations about root and branch connectivity, its love of water, and winter hardiness (made it through a NW MT winter with flying colors, just mulched in outside). I’ve found that it responds very quickly to fertilization, which makes sense given its active feeder roots.
 

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@Hartinez i really appreciate your updates over the past few years in this thread, your efforts have been very helpful in developing the health of my collected artemisia tridentata. I dug it up it on my parent’s property in Colorado last spring, and just repotted it in a box at a better planting angle this morning (hence the “droopy” looking elongated shoots from this spring - new direction of gravity!) I have plans to jin the whole right side / upright branch next year, but I’m really happy with its progress.

They are really awesome trees, and like I said, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to share so much information. I agree with all of your observations about root and branch connectivity, its love of water, and winter hardiness (made it through a NW MT winter with flying colors, just mulched in outside). I’ve found that it responds very quickly to fertilization, which makes sense given its active feeder roots.
Adding a photo of the tree as I first found it, very drastic change.
 

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@Hartinez i really appreciate your updates over the past few years in this thread, your efforts have been very helpful in developing the health of my collected artemisia tridentata. I dug it up it on my parent’s property in Colorado last spring, and just repotted it in a box at a better planting angle this morning (hence the “droopy” looking elongated shoots from this spring - new direction of gravity!) I have plans to jin the whole right side / upright branch next year, but I’m really happy with its progress.

They are really awesome trees, and like I said, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to share so much information. I agree with all of your observations about root and branch connectivity, its love of water, and winter hardiness (made it through a NW MT winter with flying colors, just mulched in outside). I’ve found that it responds very quickly to fertilization, which makes sense given its active feeder roots.

If you need a helper on your next collecting trip to your family’s property in Colorado, I am available! 😁
 
@Hartinez i really appreciate your updates over the past few years in this thread, your efforts have been very helpful in developing the health of my collected artemisia tridentata. I dug it up it on my parent’s property in Colorado last spring, and just repotted it in a box at a better planting angle this morning (hence the “droopy” looking elongated shoots from this spring - new direction of gravity!) I have plans to jin the whole right side / upright branch next year, but I’m really happy with its progress.

They are really awesome trees, and like I said, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to share so much information. I agree with all of your observations about root and branch connectivity, its love of water, and winter hardiness (made it through a NW MT winter with flying colors, just mulched in outside). I’ve found that it responds very quickly to fertilization, which makes sense given its active feeder roots.
Great work! I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re doing cutbacks in the next 6 weeks! Once they take, they don’t let go and you can be awfully drastic with them.

Don’t mention it also, happy to further the development of the species with everyone involved!
 
I finally collected one of these. It’s probably too hot now, but there were thousands of em so I gave it a shot.
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Is that the silver sagebrush? I grow some for kitchen seasonings, but around here they won't make a trunk like that often; too cold in winter.
 
Is that the silver sagebrush? I grow some for kitchen seasonings, but around here they won't make a trunk like that often; too cold in winter.

This looks like artemisia tridentata - you can ID it by the 3 scallops at the ends of the leaves (hence “trident”). Silver (artemisia cana) has more of a pointed, olive-like leaf.

Fun fact: I killed a silver sage by giving it too much water. Turns out the amount of irrigation to keep Austrian pines happy in Denver is too much for a silver sage. It’s just right for white sagebrush, though. White grows naturally in flood plains and stuff like that, so it can handle getting overwatered - maybe a good candidate for people in humid spots. I need to try silver again in my no-water bed where the tridentata is thriving.
 
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It’s great to see this thread. Sages are such awesome plants. Since moving to Denver a few years back, I’ve been growing a bunch of different types to see what does well here (turns out, most things in the artemisia family). I have a buddy with some property down south near Pueblo and plan to go hunting for sages and pinyons when it cools down.

If anyone is interested in trying tridentata but isn’t able to travel to the southwest, you can get inexpensive starts from NorthwestPlanstman on Etsy (when in stock, he seems to be out at the moment).

Rabbitbrush (chrysothamnus) and fernbush (chamaebatiaria millefolium) are lovely native plants from this area that I think have some interesting potential as bonsai, too.
 
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